Brief history and timeline

The United States partnership with the ILO began with its founding in 1919 when the ILO was created along with the League of Nations from the Treaty of Versailles. In October 1919, the first International Labor Conference (ILC) took place in Washington, D.C. and a year later, an ILO branch office was established in that city, making it one of the first four cities to have an ILO office (along with Paris, London, and Rome). In 1934, the US joined the ILO, the only League of Nations organization with which it was to be affiliated.

In 1944, the International Labor Conference held in Philadelphia broadened the ILO’s mandate. The delegates adopted the Declaration of Philadelphia, annexed to the Constitution, which constitutes the Charter of the aims and objectives of the modern ILO. In 1946, the ILO became a specialized agency of the newly formed United Nations.

In 1980, President Jimmy Carter established the President’s Committee on the ILO (PC/ILO). The President's Committee is a tripartite federal advisory committee that directs US participation in the ILO. It is chaired by the US Secretary of Labor and includes the Secretaries of State and Commerce, the Assistants to the President for National Security Affairs and Economic Policy, the Presidents of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) and the United States Council for International Business (USCIB).

Timeline: ILO - US Milestones

1919

The ILO Constitution is written between January and April by the Commission on International Labor, constituted by the Treaty of Versailles, and adopted at the Paris Peace Conference. The Commission is composed of nine countries: Belgium, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, France, Italy, Japan, Poland, the United Kingdom and the United States. The first International Labor Conference (ILC) is held in Washington, D.C. and the first six International Labor Conventions are adopted.

1920

ILO Headquarters is established in Geneva.

1934

The United States, which did not belong to the League of Nations, joins the ILO.

1939-41

John G. Winant, an American who was the first head of the American Social Security System, and then the Deputy Director of the ILO, becomes the Director-General.

1944

Delegates to the ILC adopt the Declaration of Philadelphia, redefining the ILO aims, goals and agenda for human rights and social justice in the post-World War II global economy, later to be incorporated into the ILO Constitution.

1946

In December 1946, the ILO becomes the first UN specialized agency. The agreement was signed by the UN Secretary General Trygve Lie and the ILO Director-General, Edward Phelan.

1948-70

David A. Morse, who played an important role in the administration of President Harry Truman, is Director-General of the ILO.

1969

The ILO is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize as it commemorates its 50th anniversary.

1977

The US withdraws from the Organization and returns three years later.

1995

The US Department of Labor and the ILO sign a US $2.1 million agreement for projects to combat child labor spanning the period August 1, 1995 until July 31, 1999.

Meeting of the US President’s Committee on the ILO calls upon the Tripartite Advisory Panel on International Labor Standards (TAPILS) to resume its work of reviewing the legal feasibility of ratification of selected ILO conventions.